Coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Kickstart Scheme & Apprenticeships
• Job Support Scheme
• Kickstart Grants
• Hospitality & Tourism Support
• Self-Employed Income Support Scheme
• Small Business Bounce Back Loan Scheme
• Business Interruption Loan Scheme
• Job Retention Bonus Scheme
• Job Retention Scheme
• VAT Deferral
• Income Tax Deferral
• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
• Time to Pay Service

• Remote Working & Advice Toolkit
• Secure Home Working Advice

Kickstart Scheme

Fully funded 6 month work placements for those aged 16 to 24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment.

Any business in Great Britain can apply. Funding available for each job will cover 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus the associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions.

Employers may top wages up if they wish but are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the amount of placements each business can accept.

Trainees & Apprenticeships

The government will pay £1,000 for each new trainee aged 16 to 24 that an employer takes on to provide high quality training and work experience.

In addition, the government will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1st August 2020 to 31st January 2021.

These payments will be in addition to the existing £1,000 payment the government already provides for new 16-18 year-old apprentices.

What is it?

The Job Support Scheme will replace the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which finishes at the end of October. The new scheme will begin on 1 November 2020 and will run for 6 months until April 2021.

The support has been designed to prevent unemployment by helping to keep employees working on a part time basis. Here is an outline of the scheme:

• Employees must work at least a third of their normal hours. The time they work will continue to be paid in full as normal by the employer.

• For any time employees are unable to work, the government will pay a third of their wages (up to £697.92 a month), with the employer also paying a third. This means employees will continue to receive at least 77% of their normal wages.

Who is it for?

All employers with PAYE are eligible to apply. Neither the employer or the employee needs to have previously used the Coronavirus  Job Retention Scheme.

Large businesses will have to meet a financial assessment test, so the scheme is only available to those whose turnover is lower now than before experiencing difficulties from Covid-19. There will be no financial assessment test for small and medium
enterprises (SMEs).

How do I apply?

Employers will be able to make a claim online through Gov.uk from December 2020. They will be paid on a monthly basis.

Additional Information

• Employees must be on an employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 23 September 2020.

• The employee must work at least 33% of their usual hours. After 3 months, the Government will consider whether to increase this minimum hours threshold.

• Employees will be able to cycle on and off the scheme and do not have to be working the same pattern each month, but each short-time working arrangement must cover a minimum period of seven days.
• Grant payments will be made in arrears, reimbursing the employer for the Government’s contribution.
• The grant will not cover Class 1 employer NICs or pension contributions, although these contributions will remain payable by the employer.

What is it?

Grant funding of between £1,000 and £3,000 to eligible businesses for the following:

• Specialist professional advice such as HR, financial including accountancy, IT and digital.
• The purchase of minor equipment to support your business to adapt or adopt new technology in order to continue to deliver business activity.

Who is it for?

The grant funding is available to small and medium sized businesses across the Heart of the South West area which includes Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay.

How do I apply?

You will need to submit an application through the Growth Hub website where you will also find additional guidance and FAQs on submitting an application.

Grants will be awarded to eligible applicants who meet the sector criteria on a first come, first served basis according to the date and time of submission.

Applications have now closed.

VAT Cuts

There will be a temporary VAT cut for food and non-alcoholic drinks from 15 July 2020 to the end of March 2021 to support businesses and jobs in the hospitality sector.

VAT will be reduced to 5% and will apply to supplies of food and non-alcoholic drinks from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés and similar premises across the UK.

There will also be a temporary VAT cut for accommodation and attractions – From 15 July 2020 to 31 March 2021, to support businesses and jobs.

The VAT reduction to 5% will apply to accommodation bookings and admission to attractions across the UK.

What is it?

HMRC will pay 70% of self-employed people’s average monthly profits over a 3 month period up to a maximum of £2,190 per month or £6,570 in total.  This is paid in a lump sum payment.

This is the second round of grant funding as the first round has now closed.

The claims for this second grant will need to be made on or before 19th October 2020.

Update: The scheme will be extended until 30 April 2021. It will cover three months’ of profits for the period from November to January 2021. It will cover 20% of average monthly profits, up to a total of £1,875.

The grant amount to cover the period from February 2021 to the April 2021 has not yet been set. 

Who is it for?

Anyone who makes over 50% of their earnings through self-employment, with average profits of £50,000 or less and whose business has been adversely affected by coronavirus since 14 July is eligible for the scheme.

How do I apply?

HMRC have started contacting those who are eligible for the scheme. You can also go online and check your eligibility.

You will then need to fill in an online form, at which point the grant will be paid directly into your bank account.

You can start your claim here – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme

Additional Information

You can find further information on the government website.

In addition, the minimum income floor for the self-employed has been suspended. This means self-employed people can now access, in full, Universal Credit at a rate equivalent to Statutory Sick Pay for employees.

What is it?

Access to loans of up to 25% of the turnover of the business up to a maximum of £50,000. The loans will be 100% backed by the government and interest free for 12 months. After 12 months the interest rate will be fixed at 2.5%.

Who is it for?

The loan scheme is open to any size business though it has been aimed at small businesses and sole traders. The business must not have been an ‘undertaking in difficulty’ as of 31st December 2019.

How do I apply?

The loans will be administered through the banks via a simple, standard form with no complex lending criteria and should be processed within days. Loan terms will be up to 6 years.

Additional Information

If you have already obtained a coronavirus business interruption loan of £50,000 or less, you can convert it to a bounce back loan.

What is it?

Access to loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance of up to £5 million and for up to 6 years. Interest and fees will be free for the first 12 months.

Who is it for?

All businesses with a turnover of less than £45 million per year. You must also generate more than 50% of your turnover through trading activity.

How do I apply?

There are 40 accredited lenders who can offer the scheme listed on the British Business Bank website.

Additional Information

The government will provide a guarantee of 80% on any loan. Remember that this will need to be paid back and you are liable for paying off the balance of the loan.

Loans of under £250,000 will not require a personal guarantee (and lenders are banned from asking for one). You also do not need to be disqualified from commercial lending in order to qualify.

Here is further information on the Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

What is it?

One-off payment of £1,000 paid to employers for every employee who remains continuously employed from November 2020 to the end of January 2021.

Who is it for?

It is available to all employers. Employees must earn above the Lower Earnings Limit (£520 per month) on average between November and the end of January 2021.

How do I apply?

Payments will be made from February 2021. Further detail about the scheme will be announced by the end of July.

What is it?

HMRC will pay 80% of employees’ salaries who would otherwise have been laid off, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

Until 30th June furloughed workers cannot do any work for the company while on furlough. From 1st July employees may work part time with the employer still able to claim for any days the employee is furloughed.

Employers will have to make additional contributions from the following dates as follows:

• 1st August: Employer pays pension and National Insurance contributions.
• 1st September: Employer pays 10% of wages. Government pays 70%.
• 1st October: Employer pays 20% of wages. Government pays 60%.

The scheme will end on 31st October and the cut off point for new employees joining the scheme is 10th June.

Who is it for?

All businesses with employees on their payroll.

How do I apply?

You will have to submit the following information to HMRC through a new online portal which is now live:

• Your name and phone number
• Your bank account number and sort code
• Your Self-Assessment UTR (Unique Tax Reference), Company UTR or CRN (Company Registration Number).
• The name, employee number and National Insurance number for each of your furloughed employees.
• The total amount being claimed for all employees and the total furlough period.

If you use an agent who is authorised to act for you for PAYE purposes, they will be able to make a claim on your behalf, so please speak to them now.

Follow the link below to make a claim.

Make a claim on the government website.

Additional Information

Employees must have been on your PAYE payroll system on or before 19th March 2020 to qualify.

You will need to designate affected employees as ‘furloughed workers,’ and notify your employees of this change.

Further details are available on the .Gov website.

What is it?

VAT payments will be deferred for 3 months, from 20th March to 30th June 2020.

Who is it for?

All businesses.

How do I apply?

This is done automatically so you don’t need to do anything. Customers who normally pay by direct debit should cancel their direct debit with their bank if they are unable to pay.

Additional Information

Business who deferred their VAT bills no longer have to pay a lump sum in full at the end March 2021 and,will be able to make 11 smaller interest-free payments during the 2021-22 financial year.

What is it?

Self-assessment tax payments have been deferred until 31st January 2021.

Who is it for?

Anyone who is self-employed.

How do I apply?

This is done automatically so you don’t need to do anything. No penalties or interest for late payment will be charged if you defer payment until January 2021.

What is it?

A refund to cover 2 weeks’ SSP per employee for absence due to Coronavirus.

Who is it for?

Employers with fewer than 250 employees as of 28th February 2020 and must have a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started on or before 28 February 2020.

The scheme covers all types of employment contracts, including:

• full-time employees
• part-time employees
• employees on agency contracts
• employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts
• fixed term contracts.

How do I apply?

The government online gateway is now open to reclaim SSP. You can find the full guidance and the online portal to make a claim on the .GOV website.

You will need to have a record of any absences due to Coronavirus including:

• the reason why an employee could not work
• details of each period when an employee could not work, including start and end dates
• details of the SSP qualifying days when an employee could not work
• National Insurance numbers of all employees who you have paid SSP to

You’ll have to keep these records for at least 3 years following your claim.

Employees do not need to supply a doctor’s fit note in order to claim.

What is it?

If you are in financial distress and have outstanding tax liabilities you can receive support through the HMRC Time to Pay service. Any agreements are made on a case by case basis depending on your individual circumstances.

HM Revenue & Customs’ Time to Pay service facility gives a 12 month extension to self-assessment taxpayers which means payments deferred from July 2020, and those due in January 2021, don’t need to be paid until January 2022.

Who is it for?

All businesses and self-employed people who have outstanding tax liabilities.

How do I apply?

Call HMRC on their dedicated helpline – 0800 0159 559.

What is it?

The Bank of England will buy short-term debt from larger companies. This will support companies which are fundamentally strong, but have been affected by a short-term funding squeeze. It will also support corporate finance markets overall and ease the supply of credit to all firms.

It will operate for at least 12 months, and for as long as steps are needed to relieve cash flow pressures on firms that make a material contribution to the UK economy.

Who is it for?

Companies and their finance subsidiaries that make a material contribution to the UK economy.

More information on eligibility can be found on the Bank of England Website.

How do I apply?

In order to access the CCFF, you will need to contact your bank. It is important to note that not all banks issue commercial paper. If your bank does not issue commercial paper, UK Finance will provide a list of banks that are able to assist.

The situation with the coronavirus outbreak is changing fast. We will be keeping this page updated but if you would like to receive further information, news and advice as we receive it please sign up to our emails below.

What is it?

Cosmic, a Devon – based social enterprise specialising in all things digital has launched its Business Continuity Helpline to share their knowledge and expertise with organisations in the region.

The helpline and an associated toolkit will provide advice and support on home working and managing a business during periods of disruption. The helpline is designed to support small businesses, charities and local organisations in the south west – helping them to prepare for the impacts of coronavirus (Covid-19).

How do I apply?

The number for the helpline is 0330 088 4421.

You can find further information as well as access to their remote working toolkit on the Cosmic website.

Cosmic’s team are all working remotely so will do their best to answer the phone. If you struggle to get through, please still look at the toolkit and the other sources they have made available on their website.

Based in the Exeter Science Park, Securious have written a blog to secure home working for your staff through the Coronavirus pandemic.

Many companies are now actively encouraging their employees to work from home due to issues surrounding the spread of the virus. Larger organisations often already have the infrastructure and working practices in place to accommodate large scale home working by employees.

The problem many smaller organisations will have if they face the prospect of offices being closed (particularly if they rent office space in a multi-tenanted building) is that they have never had the requirement to enable home working en masse for staff, which may lead to significant issues with cyber security.

The article will cover some of the issues as well as potential solutions that organisations can implement to ensure their work-force can continue to be productive and secure when working remotely.

Read the full article on the Securious website.